Votto isn't on thin ice now

Reds prospect is good-hit, no-skate

2:02 AM,
Mar. 30, 2007

First baseman Joey Votto, who will start the season with Louisville to work on his defense, is "going to be in the big leagues very soon and could have a pretty high ceiling," Bats manager Rick Sweet said.

Written by

C.L. Brown
cbrown@courier-journal.com

SARASOTA, Fla. -- While his friends practiced slap shots and dreamed about hat tricks, Toronto native Joey Votto focused on base hits. He had learned all he needed to know about his future in hockey after the first date he took ice skating.

"I didn't skate too well; I looked like an idiot," he said. "I was falling all over the place. That pretty much shell-shocked me."

Hockey's loss was a big gain for the Cincinnati Reds, who chose the 6-foot-3 infielder in the second round of the 2002 draft for first-year players. ...